Aonuma: Zelda cannot go back to buttons

Series will be motion-based from now on, suggests producer

Shares

Nintendo's Eiji Aonuma was won over by motion controls during the development of Skyward Sword, the producer recently told Official Nintendo Magazine. Aonuma confesses that during development, he considered ditching the vaunted MotionPlus interface in favor of a traditional approach closer to the series' previous title, GameCube/Wii crossover Twilight Princess. However, motion control won out: “I honestly think we cannot go back to button controls now,” says the producer.

“I think that [motion] controls will be used in future Zelda titles, too,” explains Aonuma. No stranger to pioneering new ways of moving Link around, Aonuma was producer on Phantom Hourglass and Spirit Tracks, whose unorthodox Stylus controls had players going from “what is this I don't even” to “why does the DS have a joypad anyway?” in around the time it took to navigate the game's first area. Motion control certainly added to the immersion of Skyward Sword: whatever shape Zelda takes next, expect further surprises to render those Link to the Past muscle-memories all the more obsolete.